Stafford MSD reviews draft 2025–26 budget after major state school finance changes

At a June 25 joint workshop, Stafford Municipal School District trustees and the City Council heard a legislative briefing from Mo Casey consultant Dr. Amber Lassang and a draft 2025–26 budget presentation from district finance staff laying out how statewide school finance changes will affect local pay, special education funding and the district’s tax-rate planning.

The district’s first-joint budget session for the 2025–26 cycle came as the Texas Legislature enacted a large school finance package that, according to Dr. Amber Lassang of Mo Casey, directs billions in new, but narrowly targeted, funding to public education. "The most important thing that passed was the state budget and school finance teacher pay," Lassang said during the presentation, adding that the package combines direct teacher-pay allotments with a new per-student allotment for district-wide costs.

Why it matters: local officials said the new state provisions will increase pay for many classroom teachers, change how districts budget for non-teaching costs, and introduce new data, reporting and implementation tasks for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the comptroller that could alter district revenues or reporting deadlines.

Major legislative details described to the district - Teacher pay: The statewide package includes roughly $4.2 billion directed toward uniform teacher pay increases. For smaller districts (under 5,000 students), Lassang said the allotment is roughly $4,000 per teacher with three to four years’ experience and $8,000 for teachers with five or more years’ experience; larger districts receive different amounts. District officials estimated Stafford MSD would receive roughly $1.216 million from the teacher retention allotment based on current staff experience profiles. - Allotment for basic costs: The law creates…